400th Anniversary Of Jamestown Settlement This Weekend

Friday, May 11th 2007, 7:22 am

By: News On 6

JAMESTOWN, Va. (AP) _ Virginia this weekend will commemorate the 400th anniversary of the founding of America's first permanent English settlement, Jamestown, with fireworks, concerts and an appearance by President Bush.

The party, which begins Friday and lasts through Sunday, has been held every 50 years, but organizers have been careful to dub this year's a ``commemoration'' rather than a ``celebration.''

With the arrival of the English in May 1607, native Indian tribes eventually were pushed off their lands, and slavery in America is traced to Jamestown, where the first Africans in the country arrived in 1619.

This year's anniversary of the colony, which was founded as a business venture, is the first to focus on all three of those cultures.

The 1957 anniversary was a largely white affair. Blacks were involved in the 1907 anniversary exposition, held an hour away in Norfolk, which included a visit by black educator and leader Booker T. Washington on ``Negro Day.''

``In 2007, it's our year to get it right, to make sure everyone is at the table,'' Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said.

More than half of the tickets for this weekend's events remained unsold as of last week, according to the most recent tally available.

Organizers had planned to limit tickets to 90,000 _ 30,000 for each day _ to limit crowding. Single-day tickets cost $30.

Activities were planned at Historic Jamestowne, where archaeologists in the mid-1990s found the remains of the settlers' fort, which had long been thought to have been washed away in the James River; the Jamestown Settlement museum, which has replicas of the fort, the settlers' three ships and an Indian village; and at the new Anniversary Park, across from Jamestown Settlement.

On Friday, Kaine was expected to join former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, honorary chair of Jamestown 2007, and other dignitaries at the rededication of Historic Jamestowne. He was expected to help officially ring in the weekend with a ceremony at Anniversary Park later Friday.

The United States Postal Service planned a ceremony Friday to mark the sale of a new 41-cent Jamestown postage stamp. The stamp's triangular shape represents the settlers' original three-sided fort and their three ships.

On Saturday, a replica of the small work boat that colonist John Smith used to explore the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries in the early 17th century will set sail to retrace Smith's voyage.

Other highlights include a joint performance by the Virginia Symphony and Richmond Symphony orchestras to premiere works written for the commemoration and a concert headlined by Bruce Hornsby, the Williamsburg-based pianist and songwriter.

President Bush will participate in ceremonies on Sunday, and the weekend will conclude with the performance of a 400-piece orchestra and a 1,607-voice choir.